Ruggiero Game-Winner Gives W. Hockey Sweep

Led by co-captain Angela Ruggiero’s three goals and two assists, the Harvard women’s hockey team extended the best start to a season in program history this weekend.

No. 3 Harvard (7-0-0, 2-0-0 ECAC) shut out Maine 6-0 at home and followed with a 2-1 victory against rival No. 8 New Hampshire at the Whittemore Center.

With the Crimson and the Wildcats (6-4-2) deadlocked at one and 5:52 remaining in the game, Ruggiero slapped the puck past UNH goalie Melissa Bourdon to extend the Crimson winning streak against the Wildcats to eleven games dating back to the 1997-1998 season.

With the five points she posted over the weekend, Ruggiero also improved her career totals to 76 goals and 132 assists, placing her fourth on Harvard’s all-time scoring chart.

Harvard 2, UNH 1

Given the large ice rink at the Whittemore Center, Harvard switched to an L forecheck in order to keep the play more compact and thus take away any home-ice advantage. Large rinks accentuate passing and speed on the ice.

UNH outplayed Harvard in the first period, outshooting the Crimson 9-8, but momentum began to change in Harvard’s favor in the second and by the end of the third, the teams were even at one.

Then, late in the third period, Ruggiero took over.

After taking a pass from freshman winger Jennifer Sifers at the top of the left faceoff circle, Ruggiero pulled the puck across the ice, bringing Bourdon to the opposite side of the net, and fired a shot back into the lower left corner of the goal at 14:08.

The Crimson outshot the Wildcats 17-5 in the third period, dominating the frame from start to finish and sealing the victory.

“After the first few shifts, we knew it was going to be a battle,” co-captain center Lauren McAuliffe said. “Our best play was in the third period. In the first one, we were going for the long bombs, going for the home runs. By the third, we were passing well, hitting more singles.”

McAuliffe played a key role in Harvard’s first-period goal that opened the scoring and gave the Crimson the crucial first goal on the road.

After she received a pass from sophomore Jaclyn Pitushka, McAuliffe’s shot clanged against the goal post. Sophomore center Jennifer Raimondi picked up the loose puck and deposited it in the back of the net to put Harvard up 1-0 at the 10:37 mark.

Sophomore goaltender Ali Boe made 16 saves to improve her record to 4-0-0 with a 0.25 goals-against average.

Boe, too, had to adjust to the large rink.

“I had to get down the angles during warm-ups,” Boe said. “I also didn’t want to step out too far. I wanted to give [the team] a chance to get down and score first and put pressure on them.”

“[Boe] is the difference in a lot of these games,” Ruggiero said. “She always makes the first stop.”

Harvard 6, Maine 0

On Saturday, the Crimson got the ball rolling by overwhelming Maine (4-7-2) 6-0 to secure the best-ever start for a Harvard women’s hockey team. The shutout was the Crimson’s fifth on the young season.

Despite the pressure from the Black Bears’ offense in the final period, freshman Emily Vitt preserved the shutout.

“[Maine] came out hard and didn’t give up,” Ruggiero said. “This is the first time [Vitt] has really been tested.”

Vitt lowered her goals-against average to 0.33 and still has only been scored upon once in three games between the pipes.

“Although I haven’t seen a significant amount of shots, I think that I have had a number of crucial saves that have helped boost the team,” Vitt said. “Getting a shutout—regardless of the number of shots—is still a very rewarding feeling.”

Though the 6-0 score illustrates the Crimson’s offensive dominance, it does not reflect the scrappiness and physicality of the Black Bears’ play.

Harvard adjusted to Maine’s rough play, picking up six penalties over the three periods.

“We knew what kind of team they were,” Ruggiero said. “We tried to come out with our style of play.”

Harvard’s approach first paid off 10 minutes into the game when junior forward Nicole Corriero scored on a power play from the right faceoff circle.

Corriero also notched the Crimson’s last goal of the contest—and her 14th of the season—on a shorthanded breakaway.

Between Corriero’s two goals, junior Kat Sweet and Ruggiero each put in a pair of their own. Ruggiero also registered an assist on both Corriero and Sweet’s first goals.

Sweet’s first goal was her first tally since the second game of the season, an 11-0 rout of Union Nov. 8.

“I felt like I was overdue,” Sweet said. “I kept working hard the last couple of games and when I put in the first one, I felt myself relax.”

Harvard returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts Providence at 7 p.m.